MANILA (Mabuhay) — Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez will walk down the length of Luzon in an effort to convince more than 9 million voters to undergo biometric registration to avoid disenfranchisement in the 2016 elections.

Jimenez will embark on what the Comelec dubs “WALKAH-WALKAH: Step Juan Tungo sa Mulat na Botante,” a north-to-south trek of more than 1,600 kilometers from Laoag City, Ilocos Norte to Matnog, Sorsogon, on May 6, the day continuing voter registration resumes.

In his memorandum explaining the project to the Comelec en banc, Jimenez said: “Apart from rising to the challenge of processing close to three million new voters, the Commission must also ensure that more than 9 million registered voters are informed that they need to submit themselves for biometric capture lest they be disenfranchised in 2016.”

“However,” he added, “beyond merely delivering information, the Commission must also take steps to mobilize these vulnerable voters, to actually get them to the registration centers where their biometric information can be captured. And the Commission only has 17 months to do it.”

Biometric voter registration became mandatory when President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10367 into law on February 15, 2013.